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Andrew Lack's return to NBC could signal return of Brian Williams

By Dylan Byers

03/03/15 05:45 PM EST

Former NBC News President Andrew Lack's return to 30 Rock -- he is currently in talks about a "top job" in the news division -- would catalyze a major shakeup among the executive leadership and would likely signal Brian Williams' return to the network, current and former high-level NBC News staff told the On Media blog on Monday.

Lack, who served as NBC News president from 1993 to 2001, is a close friend and adviser to Williams and the man responsible for making him anchor of the "NBC Nightly News" 10 years ago. High-level sources who spoke to On Media on Tuesday said Lack's return to NBC News should be taken as a near-guarantee that NBC would move to reinstate Williams as anchor of the "Nightly News." Williams was given a six-month suspension in February for making false claims about his experience during the Iraq War, leading many industry insiders to believe that he would not return to "Nightly."

Should Lack come back to NBC, he would do so as chairman of the NBC News Group, overseeing NBC News, CNBC and MSNBC, the cable news network he founded in 1996. He would replace Pat Fili-Krushel, who would likely move to a high-level corporate position and become the effective leader of the NBC News organization. Deborah Turness, president of NBC News, would report to Lack.

Lack's return would be a fitting coda: He became president of NBC News in 1993 after Michael Gartner resigned because of Dateline's General Motors scandal. Then, as now, the network had been demoralized by a breach of trust and a major public relations disaster (not to mention a lawsuit). Lack was tasked with the cleanup.

In Lack's eight years as president, NBC News became the dominant player in the morning and evening broadcasts, as well as on Sundays. Lack was also at least partly responsible for launching the careers of Williams, Matt Lauer and Katie Couric, three of the most high-profile personalities to ever come out of NBC News.

In addition to signaling a Williams comeback, some sources said, a Lack chairmanship would shore up support for Lauer at NBC's "Today" show and could even lead to Couric's return to NBC News. (Couric, now at Yahoo News, was at NBC from 1989 to 2006.)

Lack's return could have broader implications for the peacock. As chairman of the news group, he would also be tasked with overseeing MSNBC, which has been dogged by severe ratings declines in recent years. Lack is responsible for the creation of MSNBC, though its complete transformation into a liberal network happened long after his departure.

Lack left NBC News in 2001 and has since served at Sony Music Entertainment, Bloomberg Media and, since September, as the chief executive of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. But those who know Lack say he has long pined for a return to the television news business. They described him as an outsize, larger-than-life personality with a true passion for television and no shortage of self-confidence.

Indeed, as president of NBC News, Lack once referred to himself -- not the network, but himself -- as "America's news leader." From that point on, some employees at NBC News would refer to their boss not by his name but by his self-given title.